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More Tribbles, More Troubles
' |image= |series= |production=22001 |producer(s)= |story= |script=David Gerrold |director=Hal Sutherland |imdbref=tt0832415 |guests=Stanley Adams as Cyrano Jones |previous_production=Turnabout Intruder |next_production=The Infinite Vulcan |episode=TAS A05 |airdate=6 October 1973 |previous_release=The Lorelei Signal |next_releaseThe Survivor |story_date(s)=Stardate 5392.4 |previous_story=The Lorelei Signal |next_story=The Survivor }} =Summary= While the Enterprise escorts two robot cargo ships carrying quintotriticale, a new seed grain, to famine-stricken Sherman's Planet, it encounters a Klingon battlecruiser pursuing a Federation scout ship. When the Enterprise rescues the pilot, the Klingons attack with a new energy weapon capable of incapacitating a starship and demand that the pilot be handed over to them. The pilot turns out to be Cyrano Jones, an intergalactic trader well known to Captain Kirk and crew (Kirk refers to Jones as a "nuisance"). The Klingons desperately want Jones for introducing the tribble to Klingon planets where it has become a major pest, and for stealing a glommer, an animal the Klingons created via genetic engineering to prey on tribbles. Jones had stolen the only glommer prototype in existence. Kirk expresses sympathy for the Klingons' plight but reluctantly refuses to hand over Jones as he is a Federation citizen and entitled to the Enterprise's protection. Jones is now selling "safe" tribbles genetically engineered to omit their ordinarily unrestrained multiplicative proclivities. Chief Medical Officer Dr. McCoy discovers that although Jones' "new" tribbles don't reproduce, they still have ravenous appetites. Instead of reproducing, they now grow hugely fat. McCoy also discovers that the new large tribbles actually house many more tribbles inside of them. Kirk and First Officer Spock manage to counter the Klingon weapon. Now at a disadvantage, the Klingons offer to settle for just the glommer. Kirk agrees and returns it—along with several well-fed (and huge) tribbles that scare it away. The Klingons also discover the larger tribble houses a colony of smaller ones when the Klingon captain orders his first officer to shoot the large tribble, only to inadvertently free the smaller ones inside. McCoy injects the remaining tribbles on the Enterprise with a serum to slow down their metabolic rate. They are finally "safe". =Errors and Explanations= Nit Central Plot Oversights # Padawan nitpicker on Thursday, October 12, 2000 - 2:59 pm: Kirk uses the term "intergalactic" when speaking of Cyrano Jones, but hasn’t Starfleet only explored part of THIS galaxy? Kirk may be referring to the area outside the galaxy, which Enterprise has found itself in on more than one occasion. # Kirk tells Sulu to take the other ship in tow, and Spock veto’s that. As he gives his explanation, he says they have it in tow. When did that happen? Did Sulu carry out Kirk`s order despite the objection? Sulu probably acted automatically to carry out Kirk's order before Spock could finish his explanation. Changed Premises # Padawan nitpicker on Thursday, October 12, 2000 - 2:59 pm: Kirk says Cyrano Jones has violated several mandates, but Spock in The Trouble with Tribbles says Cyrano Jones has never broken the law. (What never? Well, hardly ever...) The violations probably occurred between the two episodes. # Koloth sure sounds different from the way he did in TTWT!Voices can change over time. # Todd Pence on Sunday, July 11, 1999 - 7:30 pm: In this episode, the tribbles don't seem to freak out when they're in proximity to Klingons, as they did in the live-action show. Maybe the genetic engineering mellowed them out. ' Continuity And Production Problems # ''Padawan nitpicker on Thursday, October 12, 2000 - 2:59 pm: At the beginning the Enterprise is at impulse. They aren`t even trying to reach Sherman`s planet '''They've reduced speed to investigate the attack on the scout craft. # Benn on Monday, February 10, 2003 - 1:34 pm: The Klingons fired on one of the robot ships and destroyed half its warp engines. Yet the remainder of the vessel remained intact. Does that seem right? I’d have thought even the partial destruction of the robot ship's engines would result in the total destruction of the ship. The ship's safety systems could have automatically shut down the warp core and associated systems, to prevent the ship's destruction. # After Cyrano Jones is beamed aboard the Enterprise, the episode goes to a commercial. When it returns, Kirk orders a security guard to "secure all stations". The shot is facing the Transporter platform. The guard, in order to obey Kirk, turns right. Uh, there's a wall there. The door to the Transporter Room would be to the left. Not necessarily - some transporter rooms have a mirrored floorplan, with the door on the right hand side. # Why doesn't Scotty know he's beaming tribbles aboard? Surely the combines masses of Cyrano Jones and the tribbles would have been a bit abnormal. The transporter systems were operating at less than maximum efficiency due to the Klingon stasis weapon. # Did the Glommer devour all the tribbles on K-7 other than the ones Jones has with him? Even if it eats tribbles quickly, it still should have taken it some time for it to cut down on the tribble population. At best, the 17 some-odd years Cyrano was to have spent clearing the little fur balls off the Space Station would have been cut in half I would think. Jones should still be on K-7. Jones may have found a quicker way to remove a large percentage of the Tribbles. # If tribbles are "harmful creatures" and the transportation of such creatures is against Federation laws, how is it that Jones is allowed to board a shuttle with them? Surely Mr. Lurry or whoever is the current administrative head of K-7 would not have allowed him to leave with tribbles. Perhaps they thought he was removing them for disposal. # Shouldn't the crew of the Enterprise know that's Jones aboard the one-man spacecraft? The Trouble with Tribbles established that Cyrano has his own ship. Its registry should be in the Enterprise's library computer banks. The only other possibility is that Jones acquired another vessel. But how? He may have found a way to alter his old ship. # How could Jones not know the planet was a part of the Klingon Empire? Did the natives look different from regular Klingons? Did they have ridges on their foreheads? They may have been a subjugated race on the frontier of Klingon space. # The Klingons don't use their new weapon very effectively do they? With two battle cruisers they could have wiped out the Enterprise. Koloth's ship uses the immobilizing beam and the other battle cruiser attacks the Enterprise. Simply immobilizing the Enterprise doesn't do much of anything unless the Klingons can also attack it while it is impotent. Koloth's ship may be the only one currently available. # Later in the episode it's revealed that Jones stole the Glommer from the Klingon planet that Cyrano was selling tribbles on. Again, Jones is confined to Space Station K-7 until he removes the tribbles from the Station. So he couldn't have gone to the Klingon planet to sell tribbles and steal the Glommer. Worse, Jones said that the Glommer is what shortened his stay on K-7. Huh? He may have fooled the authorities into believing that he had removed all the Tribbles long enough to acquire a more permanent solution. # Why would the Klingons create the Glommer in the first place? Until Jones sold the tribbles on the one planet, I don't think tribbles were ever a menace to the Empire were they? There may have already been Tribbles, or similar creatures, existing on planets in the Empire. Internet Movie Database Continuity # Although they were brown in the Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles, the tribbles are pink in this episode They were most likely bred like this to distinguish them from standard tribbles. =Notes= =Sources= Category:The Animated Series Category:Episodes